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MAIMONIDES

“One only loves the Holy One blessed be He through the knowledge of Him. This love is commensurate to the knowledge. If the knowledge is little, the love will be little; and if the knowledge is great, the love will be great. Thus, it is imperative for a person to dedicate himself to understand and contemplate the wisdom and knowledge that inform him of his Creator.” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 10:6)

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The Knowledge Of G-D – 1:91

The “Chashmal” is called “The Protector of the Emotions”. The explanation is as follows. Once a person has already done the analysis, or has already come to an understanding of something, he does not need to rethink the entire matter over and over again, each time the subject comes up. For example, if a person contemplates the ill effects of cigarette smoking, once he has done the analysis, and comes to the conclusion that cigarettes are dangerous to one’s health, he does not need to rethink the whole matter every time he sees someone smoking or every time he is offered a cigarette. However, even though he does not rethink it, we nonetheless see that his emotions can become quite aroused about it. He does not contemplate and analyze the whole logic of it, all over again, but nonetheless, he becomes all “fired up” over it. He may no longer remember the details of the analysis or be able to logically explain why smoking is unhealthy, but, nonetheless, his emotions are aroused with disgust and indignation etc. This is called a Chashmal.

(In mankind, Chashmal’s do not only exist on an individual level, as in the above example, but also on a national level and even a multigenerational level. So for example, a previous generation may have done the analysis into a subject and come to a conclusion, and the following generations may just operate on the Chashmal which remained from previous generations. An example of this is the theory of evolution. In a previous generation certain individuals did an “analysis” of the available data and came to the conclusion that humans “evolved” from apes. Most people today, however, who subscribe to this belief have not done the analysis to arrive at this conclusion. Rather, they accept it as fact, and may even swear by it. Furthermore, if one were to tell them otherwise, their emotions would be ignited with fiery indignation and they would consider him to be an unenlightened ignoramus and a boor etc. Nonetheless, they cannot logically explain the truth of their position. Their emotions are merely operating on the basis that “Science” says so, and therefore it must be true. Another example of this is Christianity. Millions upon millions of people believe in Christianity blindly without ever having examined the truth or falseness of it, and yet they have fiery emotions about it. These emotions are not the result of their own intellectual investigation and understanding, but are the result of the “conclusions” of previous generations etc. They just “take their word for it” as absolute truth, without any thought or analysis into the actual truth or absurdity of it. This too is a Chashmal, but on a multigenerational or national level.)

From this we see that the “garment” of the Chashmal can have a life of its own, even when it becomes disconnected from its source. How is this possible? How can it exist disconnected from its source?

[The reason is because the root of the Chashmal is higher, in the essential Self, literally. This is similar to what was said before about the matter of allegories. The source of the allegory is actually higher than the analogue. It is specifically because of this that it can contain it. This is similar to how the letters have the capability of containing the concepts etc. It is specifically because their source is higher than the concept. Their source is literally in the essence itself. Nonetheless, the letters themselves are just separate “garments” which contain the concepts and reveal them, as explained above. In the same way, the original source and root of the garment called Chashmal is within the very essence Itself. It, therefore, can become disconnected from the intellect, yet remain vital.]